nobody is taking higher ground in washington. af, after the election, you were hoping for a statesman to lead the way to compromise, no luck so far. now there are 32 days until a tax increase for most americans and huge spending cuts take effect automatically. the negotiations to avert that descended into name calling today. yesterday the obama administration proposed tax revenue increases of $1.6 trillion over ten years, guaranteed to anger republicans. and it did. ewatt andrews is on capitol hill for us tonight. wyatt? >> reporter: scott, leading republicans are now calling the president's latest fiscal cliff proposals-- and these are quotes-- "unreasonable, not serious even ludicrous." on the negotiations that are necessary to avoid the cliff, here's how house speaker john boehner described the status there. >> no, there's a stalemate. let's not kid ourselves. i'm not trying to make this more difficult. >> reporter: what set off this reaction was the president's proposal for $1.6 trillion in new taxes over ten years with tst o